Describe the potential impact of noise and reverberation on a child’s speech perception. Is the impact similar to that seen in adults? Why/Why not?

In the real world, communication rarely occurs in a quiet and anechoic environment. In fact, most communication and learning occurs in noisy and reverberant conditions, and children have more difficulty understanding speech in such conditions, compared to adults (Neuman et al, 2010) due to the incomplete development of auditory processes in children. Speech perception is a complicated process that can be affected by many variables. Several studies have demonstrated that alteration of a speech signal by various everyday factors, such as reverberation and noise, can impair the ability of a listener to correctly recognize speech (Nabelek & Mason, 1981; Crandell & Smaldino, 2000).

Noise refers to any unwanted sound in the environment that interferes with hearing. The extent to which noise masks a speech signal is dependent on the relationship between its overall intensity and the overall intensity of the speech signal. This relationship is termed as the signal-to- noise ratio (SNR). Performance on speech perception tasks is best when the SNR of a listening environment is favorable (e.g., +10 dB). Performance on such tasks decreases as the SNR becomes less favorable (Crandell & Smaldino, 2000).

Reverberation refers to the reflections of a sound that persists in an enclosed environment after the initial stimulus, and is another factor that distorts